


A Request

by low_battery_laptop



Series: An Alternate Fate [2]
Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Insomnia, Nightmares, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-20
Updated: 2019-09-20
Packaged: 2020-10-24 15:28:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,655
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20708303
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/low_battery_laptop/pseuds/low_battery_laptop
Summary: Dedue, unable to convince the prince that he needs his rest, turns to Byleth for help.Part Two of 'An Alternate Fate', but can also be read as a standalone work.





	A Request

“You and I have an understanding, yes?” Dedue looked relived when Byleth nodded. “His Highness has not slept in two days. I don’t think he will listen to anyone but you, now.”

“I shall see to it,” she said. Dedue, though typically stoic and unphased by much of anything, appeared unnerved. Of course he would be. He cared for Dimitri, probably more than anyone else within the monastery. And the prince was harming himself. 

“Thank you, Professor.”

Byleth nodded and turned on her heel, leaving the gardens. She too felt as though she should be concerned for Dimitri’s health, but there was something that kept her from being… anything. It was as she had been before becoming ‘Professor’. She raised a hand to her chest as she walked, and wished she could ask Sothis to guide her. 

_ Focus, _ she thought. It would do her no good to get wrapped up in her own problems. Dedue had given her a task, and she needed to complete it. But as she wandered the grounds of the monastery, she found Dimitri was not where she expected to find him. Asking other students for his whereabouts proved to be pointless as well. None of them seemed to know where he’d gone to. 

Byleth stopped at the front gates, looking down over the people in the market. She hoped to catch a glimpse of blue cloth. 

“Professor?” She turned to see the gatekeeper. “Good to see you again.” 

Byleth nodded in return, and took two steps forwards. Then she turned back toward him.  “Have you seen Dimitri?” she asked. 

The gatekeeper straightened up a bit. “In fact I have, Professor. He left for town a few hours ago, something about needing to pick up supplies for you.” 

She changed her direction toward the stables. 

“I take it he wasn’t supposed to do that!” the gatekeeper called after her. Byleth heard him, but she was already running and didn’t have time to answer. 

Sure enough, at the stables, Dimitri’s horse was missing; he had left Garreg Mach. Byleth mounted her own horse, pondering the idea of telling Rhea of Dimitri absconding from the monastery. As she made her way toward the gates she decided against it. If Dedue was right, and the prince was truly in a bad state, punishment was the last thing he needed. 

The guards at the gate asked questions, but it was nothing Byleth couldn’t lie her way through. Out of the gate, she rode until she was certain no one from the monastery could see her any more. Then, she dismounted her horse.  Tracking was one of the few skills she possessed, but she was out of practice. She didn’t hunt, be it man, or beast, now that she was a professor. All her enemies, man and beast, came right to her. 

At first Byleth walked up and down the sides of the road, looking for signs of someone making a detour into the woods. If Dimitri had gone off the road on horseback, it would be fairly obvious even if her tracking skills were rusty. But there was nothing obvious, so Byleth mounted her horse once more and continued along the road, traveling at a slow pace until she came to what seemed to be a game trail that crossed the road. 

Sure enough, there were tracks belonging to a horse heading west. Byleth followed the game trail for some time. As she grew closer, she went on foot instead, leaving her horse loosely tied to a small sapling. 

The forest was calm. Scattered bird songs filled the air, mixing in with the sound of her footsteps. How long had it been since she had been in a forest like this, she wondered. One that wasn’t a battlefield. Maybe when the war was done, if she lived to see its end, she could walk among the trees in peace. 

Byleth stopped abruptly when she heard the sound of an arrow cut through the air. It was distant, and she didn’t hear it land anywhere near her, but the sound put her on edge. She drew her silver sword, crouched down a step off of the game trail, and waited for another arrow. After a moment, she heard the same sound, coming from the same direction. She moved a few steps each time, and was led to the edge of a small clearing among the trees. There, she crouched with her back to a thick, fallen tree.

Over her shoulder she could see another arrow fly through the air. It embedded itself into a tree, among several others. Two more joined it. This was target practice. Training. Byleth was certain she had found the prince, but rather than make herself known right away, she continued to watch. 

Dimitri came into her line of sight to collect the arrows. His movements were slower than usual, and he looked off balance. A thought came into her mind, as she watched him continue to shoot. She would shield him from Rhea's punishment, if there was to be any, but would show him just how much he needed to rest. 

Byleth moved away from the fallen tree, circling around the clearing while keeping her distance from Dimitri. As she moved, she sheathed her sword, and instead picked up a stick that was about the same size. She crept up behind him, begging him to hear something, and turn around, but he stayed focused on his archery practice. When she was close enough, and when he had lowered his bow, she took two quick steps towards him. The stick was pressed against his throat before he could react, but, to her surprise, Dimitri put up a bit of a fight. 

There was a moment where neither of them moved, and then the stick was knocked away. Dimitri tried to kick one of her legs out from under her, but she expected it, and moved back just in time. The bow dropped from his hand, and instead he tried to stab forward with an arrow. Byleth grabbed his wrist and twisted it, not enough to injure him, but just enough to make him feel it. The arrow fell to the ground. Dimitri attempted to swing at Byleth with his free hand, but she caught that as well. 

One quick swipe at his left leg and Dimitri was on his ass. Byleth looked down at him. There were dark bags under his eyes, and his hair was an uncombed mess. The fight, which hardly lasted seconds, left him breathing heavily. 

“Professor,” Dimitri gasped out. “What are you-”

“I don’t recall asking you to run an errand in my stead,” Byleth said. 

Dimitri brushed himself off and struggled to stand. “Forgive me, Professor, but I wish to be alone for a while.”

Byleth felt just a twinge of anger, and she drew her sword. “What would have happened if I had been a thief? Or an assassin?” she asked. Dimitri steadied himself, and slowly took a step back. His eyes were wide, and she could tell his fight or flight instincts were about to kick in. But he wasn’t answering her. “Tell me,” she said, a bit louder. 

The sword stayed at her side, but Dimitri didn’t take his wide eyes off of it. “I would-” Byleth found she wasn’t interested in hearing his answer. 

“You would be dead,” she answered for him. The sword was put back in its scabbard, and her anger slowly faded. Above all else, she needed to remain calm before her student. Any more anger directed towards him would be excessive. 

“I’m sorry, Professor,” Dimitri mumbled. She almost didn’t hear the apology. “But with everything that’s happened, I need to be ready. I need to- We all need to be there to protect you. We have to be better. I have to be better.” His speech was getting more and more frantic. “I couldn’t stop Solon. I couldn’t… And now you’re different.”

Byleth placed a hand on his arm, and Dimitri fell quiet. His eyes could no longer focus on anything, darting from the ground to her face and back again, and again. “Working yourself to death will only hurt you,” she said. “You need to rest.” Dimitri shook his head, so Byleth gripped his arm harder. She needed to get through to him. “Dimitri, as your professor, I’m ordering you to return to Garreg Mach with me, and rest until I deem you fit to return to your normal routine.” 

She watched the conflict play out on his face, but was relieved when he surrendered to her. Dimitri whistled, and his horse appeared from within the forest. 

* * *

Rather than let Dimitri ride alone, Byleth took the reigns of his mount, and he sat in front of her. They rode at a slow pace back along the game trail. When they reached Byleth’s own horse, she untied the reigns from the sapling, and it followed behind them. Dimitri tried only once to protest, saying he had the strength to return to the monastery on his own. A single, hard ‘no’ from Byleth made him go quiet, and she heard no more complaints. 

She did, however, attempt to talk to him, reminding herself that he needed to be cared for. “I watched you,” she began, “from the treeline. I’ve never seen you use a bow.” Dimitri said nothing, and so she continued. “You shoot well. Perhaps we-”

Suddenly Dimitri was falling to one side, and Byleth herself nearly fell as she caught him. His eyes were closed, and his breath was slow. Exhaustion had finally gotten the better of him. Byleth felt relieved, because he was finally resting, and because she could ride all the way back to Garreg Mach in silence. She kept one arm wrapped tightly around the prince to keep him from falling. 

By the time they returned to the monastery, the sun was beginning to set. Byleth quickly explained to the worried guards at the gate that Dimitri was only sleeping, and that he had exhausted himself along the road. She instructed one of the guards to return her horse to the stables, and then another to follow her back to her dorm. Nearly everyone stared as they passed, and some whispered to one another. Hiding this from Rhea was going to be impossible, but for now, Byleth put the thought of the Archbishop out of her mind. 

Once at her dorm, Byleth dismounted her horse, and let Dimitri fall into her arms. He was still out cold, so she quickly dismissed the guard that had followed them. Dimitri’s horse followed him while Byleth carried the prince into her room. She kicked the door shut once it was behind her, and laid him down onto her bed. She wasn’t sure why she hadn’t simply brought him back to his own room, but now that he was there, she didn’t want to put the effort into carrying him again. He could leave when he woke on his own. 

Byleth left her room only to tell Dedue that she had been successful in both finding the prince and getting him to rest. He thanked her, and she returned to her room. Dimitri still slept. Though she was tired as well, she had wasted the evening tracking him down, and she was now behind on her work. So Byleth settled down at her desk and looked over the mess of parchment. The first thing she made note of on her schedule was an addition of archery lessons for Dimitri. 

The rest of her time was spent deep in a history book. Every so often she would jot down a few words, taking notes of old battles and how they played out. She had lit a few candles, and was in the middle of the book, when her vision began to blur. For a moment, she let her eyes shut, but a sudden crash woke her. 

Dimitri was on her floor, a knife in his hand, looking around wildly. Byleth had stood from her chair, but froze and waited for him to realize where he was. He did, slowly, and the knife was lowered. Once she was certain he was calm enough, Byleth moved away from her desk, kneeling down on the floor next to him. 

“Professor,” he said. This time, when he looked at her, he seemed relieved. The knife slipped from his grasp. “I…” Dimitri’s eyes were beginning to fill with tears. He looked upwards, trying to calm himself. This wasn’t the kind of situation Byleth was prepared for. Discipline and praise were two skills she considered herself proficient in. But comforting someone? It was alien to her. 

“I apologize,” Dimitri continued. “This is far from appropriate.” Byleth didn’t know what to say, so she placed a hand on his arm. She squeezed down, just a bit, and dug deep within herself. What had she felt when she had cried? Sothis had said something to her once, in an attempt to comfort her. Perhaps those words would help once more. 

“If you must weep, then weep,” she echoed. “I shall be here for you.” Sothis had been just a vision within her mind, but Byleth also recalled the feeling of something being wrapped tightly around her. And so she wrapped her arms around Dimitri, pulling him to her and embracing him. As he had said, this was far from appropriate, but Byleth cared very little for what and what wasn’t correct conduct when Dimitri began to shudder in her arms. He never made a sound, but he held onto Byleth as if she would vanish into thin air if he let go of her. 

“I dreamt,” Dimitri began. His voice was hoarse, and muffled as he spoke into her cloak. “That awful darkness swallowed up everyone I have ever cared for. Trapped them in that horrible place, and l-left me behind.”

Byleth echoed Sothis once more. “I am here,” she whispered, and then added her own words: “I will _always_ be here.”

“Thank you,” he whispered. Some time passed, and all the while, he stayed in her arms. “It is horribly selfish of me to say this, but I wish to never leave your embrace.”

Heat spread across Byleth’s cheeks. She couldn’t mimic Sothis anymore, and had no idea how to answer him. Dimitri made her feel something, but she had no idea what kind of feeling it was. So she tightened her hold on him. It was all she could think of to do. 

Even if Dimitri wished it, though, they could not stay sitting on the floor of Byleth’s room forever. She was growing exhausted, but she did not wish to send Dimitri back to his own dorm until he was ready. 

“I must rest,” she told him. Her arms dropped back to her sides, and Dimitri finally showed his face. His eyes were red, his face flushed. “But you are welcome to stay.”

Byleth stood, giving Dimitri space. She only undressed half way, leaving most of her clothing on, before she sat down at the edge of her bed. Dimitri rose up from the floor and sat next to her, but said nothing. It was unlike him to be so quiet. 

“Do you wish to stay?” Byleth asked. Dimitri nodded.

* * *

The bed wasn’t designed to fit two people comfortably, but Byleth didn’t mind. In fact, when Dimitri awkwardly shuffled back into her arms, she found a kind of warmth spreading in her chest. She didn’t feel happy, per say, because the warmth also came with the dull ache of fear. This was something new. But regardless of the fear, a smile crossed her lips. 

Her eyes closed. 

“Professor?” Dimitri’s voice was soft now. 

“Yes?” she answered. 

“Thank you.”

In the dark, Dimitri found her hand and intertwined his fingers with hers. Byleth smiled, and felt content for the first time in a very long time. 

**Author's Note:**

> FE3H is just angst/comfort bait to me, and I'm sure I'm not alone in that. Also, thanks to the few people who commented/bookmarked my previous work! Your feedback fuels the Dimitri/Byleth train in my brain.


End file.
